The Odyssey

Some Background•Composed circa 600-800 BC by Homer•The Odyssey is an epic poem•Many scholars believe The Odyssey is a written version of classic oral tradition•The poem’s use of repetition echoes that of oral poets, who used repetition as a memory aid

What is an Epic?• Long, narrative poem about the adventures of a hero• The hero is:• Larger than life• Historically significant• (Mostly) favored by the gods• Mortal• On a journey or quest• Exceptionally moral

• Shows values and beliefs of a culture• The setting• Is vast, encompassing many lands, nations, worlds,

universes, etc. Involves supernatural forces

More Qualities of an EpicThe action:• Deeds of great value• Superhuman courage and feats• Show values & beliefs of a culture• Hero’s actions determine nation’s fate

Supernatural Forces:• Gods, goddesses, monsters, mythical creatures• Work for and against hero• The Writing• Uses repetition• Several moments of suspense and climax

Early Epic Poems

•Oral narrative poems•Told in pre-literate societies•Used to pass on morals/values of a culture

Themes•Fate vs. Free Will•Piety • Justice•Pride•Lies and Deceit

•Tradition and custom•Suffering•Principles•Loyalty•Perseverance•Family

Fate vs. Free WillIn the Odyssey, fate and free will are not mutually exclusive concepts. Men may be destined to specific ends, but their personal choices alter the road they take to get there. The same freedom applies to the gods, who have a lot of leeway in how they bring about what is fated. Because the gods of ancient Greece are endowed with human characteristics, their will is subject to the same capricious and petty attributes of human emotion. Because of this hodge-podge of factors, the Greeks had a very different view from the one we have in mind when we think of destiny as fixed and constant.

Piety

Piety in the Odyssey is shown by deference to the gods, submission to their will, and through gestures such as sacrifices, festivals, banquets, and prayers. It also entails respect for the dead – proper burials and rites. Impiety or direct challenges to the gods often result in suffering or death for the offender.

JusticeJustice is ruthless in the Odyssey. Death is served easily for many transgressions, from inhospitality to poor manners to disrespecting the gods. Actually, because the gods were supposed to uphold standards in daily life such as hospitality, violating those rules was itself an offence against the gods. Once it comes to meting out punishment for such offenses, Homer’s characters pull very few punches.

PrideIf Odysseus has one flaw, it is his pride. The hero can’t take an insult lying down and insists on flaunting his victories even once challenges or battles have passed. The danger of pride in the Odyssey comes with the problem of angering the gods; humility was a must for the mortals, who must always remember that they are inferior to the divine.

Lies and DeceitDisguise is often a tool of the gods in the Odyssey, used to manipulate human events and test the character of mortals. But more importantly, Odysseus himself is famous for his cunning. From the Trojan horse to the clever blinding of the Cyclops, Odysseus survives and succeeds for his ability to dissemble and fool. Deception, then, is not always a negative notion in the Odyssey, but rather can be a means to more positive ends.

Tradition and CustomIn an accurate reflection of ancient Greek culture, rules of hospitality are among the most revered social and religious laws in the Odyssey. Men are measured by the way they play host or guest, and those that antagonize the hero often do so by failing their part of this important contract. Guests are expected to bring gifts to their host, respect the house and servants, and act with grace and appreciation. Often, the guest is a source of news and bearings from the outside world and expected, in some ways, to sing for his supper. The host is then to provide food, shelter, and even money and transportation if the guest is in need. Breaking these obligations in the Odyssey is disrespectful to the gods and indicates a somewhat subhuman status. Greek term for this: xenia

SufferingIn Greek mythology, being human entails suffering. There is no escape from pain; it is the curse of mortality. Again and again in the Odyssey, our hero is reminded of this fact. To endure, then, is the only solution. Suffering comes in all forms in this epic, from physical pain to loneliness, isolation, and the emotional anguish of not knowing whether loved ones are alive or dead.

Principles

• In the Odyssey, respect and reputation are won in several ways. Key among them is the display of courage in battle. It is also important to honor one’s hosts, guests, and the dead. At times, it is even crucial to indulge the enemy’s requests, especially when it involves royalty or their dead. Because many of the qualities valued in the world of the Odyssey relate to domestic life as well, women could also win glory for excellence in upholding them. Still, questions are raised in the Odyssey as to the value of glory – especially when it comes at the expense of one’s death. The epic’s end, however, does seem to reaffirm the value of honor at all costs.

LoyaltyLoyalty is tricky in the Odyssey. While our hero is delayed sailing home from war, his wife’s faithfulness is a beacon of steadfast devotion. On the other hand, Odysseus himself engages in multiple affairs before returning to his wife. Because of the cultural double-standard, the Odyssey doesn’t condemn its hero for doing so. This raises interesting questions of different types of loyalty: one of Odysseus’s justifications for cheating on his wife is that he never "in his heart" gave consent. In the world of the Odyssey, then, there are different types of loyalty (and accordingly many types of infidelity), ranging from physical to emotional.

Perseverance

Only through its hero’s nearly super-human determination is the Odyssey able to reach its glorious conclusion. Odysseus displays over and over his ability to grit his teeth and persevere – over nearly twenty years of hardship. Determination is a virtue in all the major, admirable characters in the epic and takes form in different ways, from physical endurance to emotional steadfastness.

FamilyThe Greek concept of the family reflected in the Odyssey includes not only immediate family but ancestors as well. It is oriented toward the past, as men are introduced with their lineage and judged for their name. Still, there are less formal and more emotional aspects to family in this epic; loyalty to one’s blood is unwavering, whether it be a wife’s faithfulness to her husband, a son’s love for his father, or a man’s ceaseless determination to get home to his family.

The Odyssey: Literary Devices• Both The Illiad and The Odyssey use literary devices

that have become typical of epics• opening with an invocation to the muse• beginning the story in medias res (basically, “in the

middle of things”)• providing long lists of people, genealogies, and

places significant to mythological history • using epithets, or repeated nicknames, for various

characters, major and minor. • Parts of the story (resemble cultural folklore,

involving unrealistic, mythological creatures and occurrences. These render it a player in the mythology genre and, of course, a major example of a quest (basically, a hero facing obstacles on his way to get somewhere).

Literary Devices: Homeric Simile• Because the text is originally a poem, it’s important to recognize

the distinctive features of Homer’s poetic style. Probably the most famous of these is the so-called “Homeric simile.” A simile, is a way of describing something by explicitly comparing it to something else: “A is like B.” Homer’s distinctive way of making similes comes up more often in the Iliad than the Odyssey, but there are still some famous examples

• One famous example appears in Book VI. It follows the three-step process of your typical Homeric simile: 1) saying what it is that whatever you’re talking about is like (in this case, Odysseus is like a lion); 2) describing the thing you’re comparing it to (the lion); and 3) reminding the audience of what you were originally talking about (Odysseus). The third step is important because sometimes the description the second step can get extremely long, and there’s the risk that the audience will forget what you’re talking about.

Literary Devices: Dactylic Hexameter• “Hexameter” is a poetic meter with six measures (in a musical sense)

Because measures or bars in poetry are known as feet, translate “hexameter” as “six feet.”

• “Dactylic” comes from the Greek word “daktylos,” which means “finger.” We might as well just translate “dactylic” as “fingery.” Take a look at your finger – any finger except for your thumb. You will probably notice that it has one long joint followed by two short joints. That’s the basic idea the Greeks were trying to get across in calling this meter dactylic –It’s made up of FEET that are shaped like FINGERS: one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

• In dactylic hexameter, only the first five feet are shaped like fingers (LONG + short + short); the last foot is never shaped this way; it will be either: (LONG + LONG) or (LONG + short).

• To illustrate this meter in action, let’s just take our handy-dandy translations, “fingery” (LONG + short + short) and “six feet” (LONG-short):

“Fingery | fingery | fingery | fingery | fingery | six-feet” • Of course, thousands and thousands of lines in that rhythm would start to

get pretty annoying, so the ancients allowed you to plug in a (LONG + LONG) in exchange for any one of the first five feet. (This usually happened in only the first four.) This allowed a wide range of rhythms to achieve a variety of poetic effects and keep things interesting. Unfortunately, this meter does not come through in English translations of the work

Intertextuality• Many famous works are inspired by Homer’s epic:• Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid; • Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses”• James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses• countless paintings (check out Henry Fuseli’s “Odysseus

in front of Scylla and Charybdis”)• Cream’s song “Tales of Brave Ulysses”• The Cohen Brothers’ movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Whether you’re most interested in literature, visual art, music, or movies, you’ve got to read Homer’s Odyssey to see where everybody’s getting their ideas.